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[[preprinted]] COMMISSIONERS F. M. NEWBERT M. J. CONNELL E. L. BOSQUI ----- EXECUTIVE OFFICER CARL WESTERFELD FISH AND GAME COMMISSION OF CALIFORNIA SACRAMENTO [[/preprinted]] Jan. 8, 1918. I desire at this time to make a statement relative to the claim that enormous damage was alleged to have been done to the rice industry in California by wild ducks. Since 1912, when rice was first commercially grown in California, numerous complaints have come to the Commission of depredations by black birds. In 1913 the mudhen and duck were added to the list of despoilers. In an effort to arrive at the truth, the Commission compiled all possible data, from news clippings, private correspondence with growers and personal investigations by its agents. The investigation disclosed that many of the reports in the daily press were very undependable. Statements were made and sent broadcast by persons who were not rice growers and whose motice was to kill ducks at any time for profit only. News clippings headed "Mr. So and So Reports the Loss of 100 Acres of Rice by Wild Ducks" would be found upon investigation to be a pure fabrication and not based on facts. Many letters came unsolicited denying any interviews in which such statements were made. Many of the rice growers who were quoted as having made statements of losses suffered by them were courteous enough to correct the statements by letters, but the difficulty was to give the same amount of publicity to the denials. As an example, this statement appeared in the Willows Journal: "Mr. [[strikethrough]] Sehorn [[/strikethrough]] ^[[D'Egilbert]] has informed us (the Journal) that he made a request to ship the thousands of dead ducks on his rice fields to a State institution at his own expense and had been refused." Our [[preprinted]] ADDRESS ALL COMMUNICATIONS "FISH AND GAME COMMISSION" [[/preprinted]]